The skies were beautifully blue during our visit to S2000 tuning legends ASM and this was the sight that greeted us when we pulled up in the cab (i'm tempted to mosaic out one of the cars, but that would be against the spirit of this blog hoho!)
It was almost a shame to scuff our shoes on this pristine white mat.
Apart from tuning S2000s, ASM is Japan's pre-eminent Recaro dealer. In fact ASM's party trick is its collection of ASM special edition Recaro seats that boast unique material, colour and stitch combinations that don't otherwise exist in the Recaro line-up.
Although these special editions are based on Recaro's existing range of seats, ASM injects little tweaks to really spice up the usual colour combis of the regular range. This is just a small section of ASM's prodigious seat collection...
This is ASM's infamous Recaro rack display. To really put things in perspective, the display of seats account for some 90% of the total shop area. Although ASM used to offer the occasional fluroescent green- or orange-clad seat, but apparently novelty aside, most buyers continued to come in asking for... black and dark grey!
What's a trip to ASM without having a gander at their infamous S2000 (in this case it's Car No. 1). This daily driver (as opposed to the race-prepped version that has made the cover of so many tuning magazines) spends most of its time garaged unless the weather is good.
The beauty of ASM's body kit is the fact that it looks perfectly stock (the rest of the aero bits - Roof is Mugen, Mirrors are MRacing - and chassis enhancements are produced under I.S. Design, a subsidiary of ASM I believe). It's not too garish nor mundane, which make it ideal for owners who want to bask in the admiration of passers-by, as opposed to suffering from a 'just another ricer' complex.
These elegant tear-drop c/f mirrors are a nice change from the Craftsquare/APR/Chargespeed style 'antennas' or 'bulging eyes' that a lot of people go for. However, the reason why the latter prove so popular is because they are PnP, or Plug and Play, directly over the stock mirrors' original positions.
The unfortunate thing about these MRacing mirrors is the fact that you either have to putty up (or cover and conceal) the sockets left vacant by the stock mirrors and drill holes for the mounting screws into that triangular bit pictured.
The mirrors do come with carbon-fibre 'door-plugs' but these will probably have to be sprayed to body colour on anything other than a Berlina Black (and maybe Silverstone) car since the contrast would look too garish on most other colours.
Another option is to get a body-shop to putty over the hole and/or invest in a second set of FRP or CF doors, which is quite a lot of 'prep' work for what is essentially a forty-five minute fitting job.
Gorgeous Alcantara RS-G (ASM Limited of course) the few concessions to vanity in a very functional cabin (like the engine bay). There's nothing there that shouldn't be there!
ASM Race engines are prepped by Toda Racing but during our visit, the car was unfortunately blighted by a failed starter motor so it couldn't be started for our aural enjoyment :(
A peek under the hood displays this sexy work of art! No aesthetic embellishments here; every element is functional!
ITBs!! YUM! (Individual Throttle Bodies)
1:1 complete engine! lol
Close-up of the extractor: beautiful curves and top-notch weld-work. Now this separates the wheat from the chaff!
Apart from Recaro seats, ASM also sells other assorted equipment that range from ARD racing shoes (collaboration between Asics, 5Zigen: http://www.5zigen.co.jp/english/products/racing_item/ard/shoes/index.html) to distinctive green Takata harnesses.
Now Takata seems to be de rigeur 'standard equipment' on all JDM-inspired S2000s, but if i had to pick a harness brand, my personal preference is still Schroth.
http://www.schrothracing.com/
http://www.schroth.com/
Gorgeous orange application on this white S2000 parked out front certainly looks the business. Word is there are Green and Light Blue versions running around too, all inspired by the legendary Porsche 911 GT3.
It's just a pity that not many people see the beauty of this kind of colour-combination on a S2000. To a lot of elitists who suffer from tunnel-vision, it's ok for a Continental car but beng or 'ricer' on a Honda or anything else Asian.
Different strokes for different folks guys, don't be a hater just cos you don't 'get it'.
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